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exemption

From Washington to Maine with numerous stops in between, the food “sovereignty” movement emerged as the 10th most important food safety story of 2011. With many variations, the movement involved attempts — some successful, some not — to exempt local food producers from food-safety regulation or oversight. Father of the movement is a Big Sandy,… Continue Reading

Russell Libby and Brian Snyder walked out of the Rayburn House Office Building on a brilliant spring day in April 2009 shaking their heads. The two were on Capitol Hill representing the interests of small farms as Congress drafted legislation to revamp the food safety system. Congressional staffers had just informed the pair that, in… Continue Reading

Following the lead of Sedgwick, Maine to exempt itself from state and federal food safety regulations, three other towns in Hancock County are now poised to adopt similar “food sovereignty” measures. Titled “The Ordinance to Protect the Health and Integrity of the Local Food System,” Sedgwick’s four-page document invokes the town’s right to self-governance, and… Continue Reading

State Rep. Chapin Rose, a 38-year-old lawyer representing the rural area around Charleston, IL, is a man on a mission. Starting his fifth term in the Illinois Assembly, the Republican lawmaker wants pictures on food stamp cards, only one license plate per car, and no state or local regulation of farmers markets. Wednesday morning, the… Continue Reading

The country’s economy was humming along in 1989 when a then-unknown filmmaker, Michael Moore, came out with a movie in which one memorable character was a woman named Rhonda Britton, who sold rabbits for “Pets or Meat.” Today, insecurity about jobs and housing is making most of the United States feel like the down-and-out residents… Continue Reading

In testimony prepared for a Wyoming Legislature public hearing, one of the Cowboy State’s top local health officials tells lawmakers to just say no to exemptions. Robert E. Harrington, director of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department, is urging the joint Agricultural, State and Public Land, and Water Resources Interim committee to reject three proposed measures: the… Continue Reading